The Someday Garden

Title: The Someday Garden
Author: Ashley Poston
Published: June 16, 2026 by Berkley
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
Genre: Paranormal

Blurb: When Sophie Drear plans her escape to coastal Maine for the summer—for a temporary job revitalizing the storied grounds at Lilymoor House—she doesn’t expect to fall in love.

But she does: With the beguiling land, the fragrant flowers, and the towering hedge maze. With the quirky staff and the enigmatic woman who owns the place.

And then, the door appears. Never in the same place twice, it leads her to a secret, and unfinished, garden with a frustrated thundercloud of a man trapped inside.

This mysterious garden is not the only sign that the future of Lilymoor is unstable: the foliage resists Sophie’s careful nurturing, vines threaten to strangle the hedges, and the manor’s owner has wild ideas about who will take over when she retires—including her inconveniently attractive nephew who is also there just for the summer.

Despite herself, Sophie has come to care for the residents of Lilymoor just as much as she cares for its grounds. With the help of one man on the outside of the secret garden, and one man on the inside, she might be the only person who can figure out exactly what Lilymoor needs to bloom once more.

My Opinion: This novel and I got off to a slow shuffle together; one of those starts where you keep thinking, “Okay, any minute now…” It’s easy enough to follow, almost too simplistic, but I kept waiting for that spark, that little narrative jolt that tells you you’re in for a good ramble down a garden path. Instead, I found myself watching the pages drift by where nothing much happens.

Still, there are bright spots. How can you not love a character who consults a Magic 8 Ball like it’s a trusted life coach? At first, it feels like a quirky personality trait, but later you realize those little plastic prophecies carry emotional weight. It’s one of the few touches that made me sit up a bit straighter and think, “Oh, that’s why this round sphere matters.”

Her fixation on the loss of a friend is understandable, though the book circles that grief so often it starts to feel like déjà vu. And the caramel colored eyes—my goodness. A bit overdone to say the least.

The pacing doesn’t help. A third of the way in, I was still waiting for the story to find its footing. When things finally begin to click into place, it’s more of a gentle nudge than a satisfying snap. The magical secret garden should have been a moment of wonder, but instead I found myself unsure why or how it all worked. The book gestures toward enchantment without fully committing to its logic.

There are a few graphic moments that might catch some readers off guard, especially given the otherwise soft, whimsical tone. And yes, there are funny bits, where Poston has a knack for wry humor and duck antics, but they’re scattered too thinly to lift the overall mood.

I think part of my restlessness came from having read The Seven Year Slip first. That book had a twist that made the whole journey feel worthwhile, like the author had been quietly laying breadcrumbs the entire time. With The Someday Garden, I kept waiting for that same “ah ha” moment, the one that makes you grateful you stuck around. It never arrived. Instead, I closed the book thinking, “Well… I guess that was ok,” which is never the reaction you hope for when a story promises magic.

In the end, it’s a gentle, occasionally charming read that just never quite delivered what it could have been.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

Title: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
Author: Kim Michele Richardson
Published: May 7, 2019 by Sourcebooks Landmark
Format: Paperback, 309 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek #1

Blurb: In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry.

The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government's new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.

My Opinion: This novel surprised me in the best way. The kind of surprise where you pause mid chapter thinking, “How did I not know this?” I’d heard whispers years ago about the Blue People of Kentucky, but I’d filed it away as one of those half mythical Appalachian tales people repeat without really knowing the truth. So, imagine my delight (and a little embarrassment) when I learned it wasn’t folklore at all but a real genetic condition, wrapped in generations of misunderstanding and prejudice. And the kicker? They were lumped into the “colored” category too, yet another piece of American history that somehow never made it into any classroom.

Then there are the Pack Horse Librarians—the Bookwomen—riding up and down those rugged hills delivering stories, news, and connection to families who had almost nothing else. I had never heard of them before this book, which feels wild considering how essential their work was. It makes perfect sense once you’re in the thick of the story when you consider how books were a lifeline; of course, women stepped into that gap, and yet history barely bothered to mention them.

This is exactly why I love historical fiction when it’s done with care. There’s a particular joy in feeling an author’s research humming beneath the narrative, not heavy handed, not textbook dry, but alive. You get the sense that Richardson dug deep, found the threads history left behind, and stitched them into something that feels both intimate and illuminating. It’s the kind of reading experience where you walk away with a fuller heart and a fuller mind.

And here’s the funny part: this book had been sitting on my shelf for ages, quietly waiting for the right time. When I finally picked it up, I didn’t even realize it was the first in a duology. So now, naturally, the second book has muscled its way onto my next book shopping list. Some stories just insist on being seen.

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage

Title: Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
Author: Belle Burden
Published: January 13, 2026 by The Dial Press
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
Genre: Memoir

Blurb: In March 2020, Belle Burden was safe and secure with her family at their house on Martha’s Vineyard, navigating the early days of the pandemic together—building fires in the late afternoons, drinking whisky sours, making roast chicken. Then, with no warning or explanation, her husband of twenty years announced that he was leaving her. Overnight, her caring, steady partner became a man she hardly recognized. He exited his life with her like an actor shrugging off a costume.

In Strangers, Burden revisits her marriage, searching for clues that her husband was not who she always thought he was. As she examines her relationship through a new lens, she reckons with her own family history and the lessons she intuited about how a woman is expected to behave in the face of betrayal. Through all of it, she is transformed. The discreet, compliant woman she once was—someone nicknamed “Belle the Good”—gives way to someone braver, someone determined to use her voice.

With unflinching honesty and profound grace, Burden charts a path through heartbreak to show the power of a woman who refuses to give up on love. Strangers is a stunning, deeply moving, compulsively readable memoir heralding the arrival of a thrilling new literary talent.

My Opinion: Every divorced woman who wasn’t the one making the choice will find a piece of herself tucked somewhere inside these pages. Maybe not the affluence, the family legacy, or the seemingly bottomless bank account -- but the emotional terrain. The fear, the bewilderment, the instinct to shield your children at all costs? That part is universal, and Belle Burden captures it with a clarity that stings a little.

I’m honestly not sure why some readers have decided to pick this memoir apart. It is a memoir; one woman’s lived experience, filtered through her own feelings, opinions, and hindsight. You have to give an author grace for that. She’s not writing a legal brief; she’s writing from the rubble of her own life.

What surprised me most was how much I enjoyed this book, especially the way Burden threads in those osprey metaphors. They’re subtle but purposeful; little markers of instinct, survival, and the long arc of rebuilding. I found myself pausing at those moments, thinking, Oh, that’s clever… and also painfully true.

And then there are the well meaning but unintentionally brutal comments from friends. We’ve all heard versions of them. People try to say the right thing, but divorce is a kind of death, and just like with death, most folks don’t know how to show up gracefully. Burden captures that awkwardness with wince worthy accuracy.

This is a quick read, but it’s a heavy exhale one. You move through devastation, confusion, the slow unfurling of growth, and finally resilience. It’s not tidy, and it’s not meant to be. It’s a memoir of someone trying to make sense of a life that suddenly cracked open, and somehow finding her footing again.

I really appreciated this book. It sits with you in that quiet, honest way memoirs sometimes do, offering recognition without judgment and reminding you that rebuilding is rarely linear, but always possible.

Murder at the Campfire Cookout

Title: Murder at the Campfire Cookout
Author: Darci Hannah
Published: June 30, 2026 by Kensington Cozies
Format: Kindle, 352 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Series: Beacon Bakeshop Mysteries #7

Blurb: Converting the old Beacon Point lighthouse into a bakery is as adventurous as Lindsey cares to get. Her mother, Ellie, a former 80s fashion model, likes her creature comforts even more—until she sees a business opportunity for her Beacon Harbor fashion boutique when she’s invited by the Mitten Kittens Glamping Club on a woodsy getaway.

Far from roughing it, the ladies will be warm and cozy in chic vintage campers. Ellie insists Lindsey come along to win the campfire cookout contest. Campfire cooking has come a long way from bacon and beans. Soon Lindsey is making pizza, berry cobbler, and gooey Carmelita camping bars.

But the festive spirit is soon dampened when a body is found in Ellie’s camper. It seems like an accidental death until everyone’s tires are slashed and it’s clear the glampsite has become a crime scene. With no cell service to call for help, it’s up to Lindsey to smoke out the killer around the campfire.

My Opinion: Murder at the Campfire Cookout feels like the series bowing out with a sigh rather than a flourish. Darci Hannah hints that it will be the last in the series, but that Beacon Bakeshop crew may wander into future projects, which is a comforting thought; this particular outing doesn’t quite honor the charm the series started with.

Let’s start with the word that nearly derailed my reading experience: glamping. I swear it appears roughly 137 times, give or take a few eye rolls. It’s one of those words that never quite settles on the page, and the constant repetition made the prose feel clunky and the pacing even slower than it already was.

And the plotting… oof. Monotonous is the kindest way to put it. The premise alone had me blinking at the page: a group of women casually agreeing to let a fellow camper load a dead body into the back of a car and send one lone driver off into the night toward a hospital mortuary they can’t locate that must be somewhere down a dark, winding road. With zero questions. I mean—really? I can suspend disbelief with the best of them, but I draw the line at characters behaving as if they’ve never seen a crime show. Let alone have common sense.

The writing itself doesn’t feel like the earlier books either. It’s choppy, repetitive, and oddly flat, as if the series’ usual spark got left behind at the bakeshop. By the halfway point, the story starts giving off And Then There Were None vibes, but without the tension, the cleverness, or the creeping dread. It’s easy to spot the intended victim, and the perpetrator comes across less like a mastermind and more like someone who wandered into the plot by accident.

By the final stretch, the book feels endless. Then suddenly—whiplash—the ending rushes in with no surprises, no clever misdirection, no “oh, that’s why!” moment. The target is obvious from page one, the motive barely matters, and the last chapters feel like the author was grasping at anything to wrap things up. I found myself wanting it to be over, which is never how I want to feel at the end of a cozy mystery series.

If this truly is the last Beacon Bakeshop book, I wish it had gone out with a bit more finesse.